Tag - energy

 
 

ENERGY

Tugboats assist a liquified natural gas tanker as it docks at a port in Yantai, China, in February. In 2021, China became the largest importer of LNG, and as of this year, China now has the most long-term LNG contracts.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Jun 1, 2025
China is eroding Japan's LNG dominance. How does that affect Japanese buyers?
Japanese companies have long held the leading position in the buying and trading of one of the world's key energy sources, but that era of hegemony has come to an end.
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline along the Dalton Highway near Stevens Village, Alaska
ASIA PACIFIC
May 31, 2025
Trump officials set for talks with Asia leaders on Alaska energy
Foreign officials from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, India and the United Arab Emirates are expected to be included in the talks.
Pipelines at Jera's thermal power station in Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture
BUSINESS / Companies
May 30, 2025
Japan’s top LNG importer will explore buying from Alaska
Jera, which is also the nation’s largest power producer, inked the nonbinding pact ahead of a summit in the U.S. state next week.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Icelandic President Halla Tomasdottir at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
May 28, 2025
Ishiba and Tomasdottir agree to deepen cooperation between Japan and Iceland
The Icelandic president said Japan is Iceland's most important partner in Asia, and expressed her eagerness to collaborate on geothermal energy and gender equality.
The Kartini Nuclear Reactor research facility in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The nation is looking to turn to nuclear power to help meet growing energy demand.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health / FOCUS
May 27, 2025
Indonesia eyes nuclear option in bid to grow energy and cut emissions
It aims to set up its first small modular reactor by 2032, but challenges including finding a suitable location and a lack of local expertise might present hurdles.
The white-tailed eagle's wintering grounds include Hokkaido, northern Honshu, the Russian coast, the southern Kamchatka Peninsula and the Kuril Islands.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
May 26, 2025
Eagle nest discovery sparks opposition to megasolar project
Groups want to put a stop to the project near eastern Hokkaido's Kushiro Wetlands National Park.
Japan may offer cooperation on shipbuilding expertise and an Alaska natural gas project as part of trade talks with the United States.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 26, 2025
Japan touts ships expertise and LNG investment, with tariff talks key
There is rising momentum in the negotiations as the U.S. tariffs threaten to drag Japan’s economy into a technical recession ahead of the Upper House election.
The Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant, which was shuttered last week, is seen from a beach in Pingtung, southern Taiwan, on April 29.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 26, 2025
Taiwan to hold referendum on restarting closed nuclear reactor
The Aug. 23 poll will decide whether the Maanshan nuclear power plant, shuttered just last week, should resume operations if there are no safety concerns.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Friday. Trump signed orders meant to accelerate the construction of nuclear power plants, including small, untested designs that offer the promise of rapid deployment but have yet to be built in the U.S.
WORLD
May 24, 2025
Trump signs orders to revive U.S. leadership in nuclear power
The order includes accelerating construction of small, untested designs that offer the promise of rapid deployment but haven’t yet been built in the U.S.
The U.S. military’s longstanding dominance is eroding as China exploits its vulnerabilities with cheaper, faster and smarter warfare, demanding urgent American reinvention in energy, logistics and artificial intelligence.
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2025
America’s hard power must get harder — quickly
Aircraft carriers and fighter jets look a lot less stealthy in a world of limitless drones and autonomous submarines.
The Dinorwig Power Station is nestled in the mountains of Llanberis, U.K. The power station is hidden away in the North Wales mountains and has been drained down as part of a £1 billion refurbishment program to extend the life of the plant.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
May 20, 2025
The U.K.’s clean power future relies on a 100-year-old technology
For years, water has rushed through Dinorwig’s subterranean tunnels to drive vast power turbines, but the channels currently lie empty — for the first time in four decades.
The rush to electrify everything is reshaping energy, but without addressing demand, grid and supply risks, the green transition may falter.
COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2025
It’s electricity realism, not climate denialism
Electrifying everything comes with plenty of risks of its own.
An oil refinery behind Hamadera Park in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture
JAPAN
May 17, 2025
One dead after possible gas leak at Eneos refinery
The company believes they may have inhaled hydrogen sulfide gas, according to informed sources.
Starting in the early 1980s, shipping nuclear waste for storage on Orchid Island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan was standard practice.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
May 16, 2025
Final nuclear plant shutdown leaves Taiwan facing energy crunch
The shutdown takes place just as power demand is projected to rise 13% by the end of the decade, largely driven by data centers and chipmakers.
Solar panels on display at the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, China, on April 16
BUSINESS / Tech
May 15, 2025
Rogue communication equipment found in Chinese-made solar power inverters
The rogue components provide undocumented communication channels that could allow security measures to be circumvented remotely, sources said.
A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker is tugged toward a thermal power station in Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture, in 2017.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2025
Japan under pressure from U.S. to invest in Alaska LNG pipeline
Doubts over the pipeline's profitability and viability leaves Japan's participation in the $44 billion (nearly ¥6.7 trillion) project uncertain.
Solar Park Kasso ApS's e-methanol production plant, located on the outskirts of Aabenraa in Denmark, on Monday
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2025
Mitsui starts mass production of e-methanol with Danish firm
The amount of CO2 emitted from e-methanol production is up to 97% less than that from methanol produced using fossil fuels.
A nuclear reactor in New Taipei City
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 14, 2025
Taiwan opens door to restart atomic power plants in reversal
Under the new law, plants that could previously only operate for 40 years will be allowed to renew or extend their licenses for up to 20 years at a time.
Supervisor David Lindsay in the chilling plant beneath the headquarters of the United Nations in New York
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 13, 2025
As world heats up, U.N. cools itself the cool way — with water
As more and more people want to stay cool in a planet that is steadily heating up, energy experts point to this kind of water-based system as a good alternative.
Power lines connecting pylons of high-tension electricity are seen during sunset at an electricity substation on the outskirts of Ronda, Spain, during a blackout in the city on April 28.
WORLD
May 6, 2025
EU power grid needs trillion-dollar upgrade to avert Spain-style blackouts
Authorities in Spain and Portugal are investigating the cause of last week's blackout, but whatever the findings, analysts say infrastructure investment is essential.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell